


Apocalyptic Exiles

by Scarlet_Gryphon



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Gen, Season/Series 01 Spoilers, Season/Series 02 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-19
Updated: 2013-04-19
Packaged: 2017-12-08 22:01:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/766510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarlet_Gryphon/pseuds/Scarlet_Gryphon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cuddlepile!Fic for Aquayao, who requested it.</p><p>SPOILERS FOR MISSION 23 of SEASON 1/ MISSIONS 1 & 2 of SEASON 2. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apocalyptic Exiles

The shock of losing Abel resonated throughout those survivors who made it to New Canton. Janine, ever the stoic one in the face of devastation, quietly marshaled her fellow refugees into the largest gathering space in New Canton, which turned out to be the recreation room. The makeshift ping-pong tables and other assorted bits and pieces of furniture were moved to the edges of the room to make enough space for the fifty or so people. 

Fifty. Less than one third of the population had made it to New Canton. Far too many had been lost, either directly from the rocket hitting, zombie attack, and the subsequent diaspora. Thankfully, the few children who lived in Abel had all made it, little Molly included. Ed was soothing her, trying to distract her from everything that had happened (and her incoming teeth) with Mr. Rabbit, who was a little more threadbare and banged up after his sojourn through the wilderness between Abel and New Canton.

Once a headcount was taken and everyone settled in, Maxine looked around and sighed. The tension was palpable, and inevitably, someone would break. It was just a matter of when. Sure enough, one of the kitchen workers-- Jake, if Maxine remembered the young man's name right --began to cry quietly, trying and failing to brush away the tears that just. Wouldn't. Stop. He gave up trying to hide the tears soon enough, the sudden crash from the rush of adrenaline and fear draining away the last of his inhibitions.

Those around him tried to soothe him with calming words and hushed tones, but not even the most hardened of them were unaffected. In a short while, there were clumps of people holding onto one another, the tense mood breaking as a much heavier one of sadness and grief overwhelmed it. Maxine took a seat near Five and Sam, who were taking care of Eugene. The two were curled protectively around their friend; Five was gently stroking his hair, while Sam had one arm around Eugene's back, supporting him the best he could. 

"Hey, don't worry, 'Gene," Sam was saying, "we'll find him. You know Jack; he's probably holed up in a tree somewhere with W.G. keeping him safe and sound."

"He did ask me a lot about the night I did a squirrel impression, so I think he'll be all right," Five concurred with a small smile. "He's probably throwing nuts at zombies as we speak, just to annoy them."

Eugene let out a wavering laugh, hiccuping slightly at the end. "Heh. Yeah."

"See, it won't be all that bad," Sam said. "Once everyone's ready and the Major gets done talking with the bigwigs here, we can start rebuilding Abel. Hey, maybe we can make the comms shack bigger. Y'know, more of an actual station than a tin-plated shed with an antenna."

"We could always do with better plumbing," Evan, who was nearby, said, catching on to what Sam was subtly trying to do. "The showers were good, but they always backlogged when it rained too much."

"I'd love raised storage bins for the kitchen. Oh, and a compost pile," Jake suggested, his voice rough from tears. "It'd help with the gardening, once it gets going again. Maybe some more space for beans and spices."

All around them, people began adding their suggestions for improving Abel when they returned. The sadness, while still there, began to slowly seep away to bearable levels. As time went on, people began falling asleep where they sat or lay: the children first, and the adults slowly after. Five and Sam were curled up on either side of Eugene, sharing their warmth and comfort with their friend. Janine and Maxine were some of the last to fall asleep, watching over their people like two mother hawks. Even they succumbed to the weariness dragging at their bodies, though, falling asleep propped up against one another.

\--

Archie was excited. Well, maybe excited was the wrong word. Happy? No, that was silly. What was happy about being forced from your home by a nutter with a legion of rocket launcher-carrying zombies? Hmm. Maybe.... maybe intrigued was a better word? The people from Abel Township were definitely interesting-- to be fair, anything or anyone new was in these times --so yeah, that could work! Awesome. She was intrigued, then, to see how they were getting on. Midnight was a bit of an awkward time to find out, but Archie was up and had nothing better to do, so she figured she might as well go see what was up.

She approached the rec room and then paused in the doorway, a smile spreading across her face as she saw what lay before her. Archie barely contained the 'Aww' that wanted to escape her, instead going to the nearest supply closet and hauling out as many blankets as she could physically carry. They weren't the softest of things, but they were warm, and big, which suited her purposes just fine. The verbose runner began to circulate around the room, carefully draping the blankets over the various huddles of people, tucking them gently in at the edges to keep the warmth in. 

Everyone looked so exhausted, even in sleep. Odd, that, how you could be tired while in the process of resting. Was it possible to be the opposite? Archie wasn't sure. She made a mental note to think about it later as she covered the last group of people with blankets. She had a lot of those mental notes, now that she thought of it. Maybe she should write them down. 

With a shrug, Archie carefully picked her way out of the room, pausing at the door to take in her handiwork. Everyone looked as comfortable as was possible, given the situation. Good. It's what she would've wanted if something like that had happened to her. She nodded in satisfaction and then left, closing the door quietly on the sleeping forms of the citizens of Abel Township.


End file.
